I started playing cricket with bat made out of coconut branch: Brian Lara

Brian Charles Lara, one of the greatest entertainers of the Cricket world, revealed he started playing cricket with a bat made out of a coconut branch. In an interaction with the International Cricket Council (ICC), Lara shared how his family supported and inspirited him to grow as a cricketer. 

The ICC quoted Brian Lara as saying that his brother "shaved a cricket bat out of a coconut branch" for him when he was just four-years-old. "We played cricket with anything we put our hands on – a hard orange, a lime, a marble – anything we could use in the backyard or the streets," he added. 

Starting with rather modest means, former West Indies player managed to score 501 in first-class cricket and 400 in test cricket, which stands undimmed, conferring him with the title of the highest individual scorer of all time. Not to mention, in both the innings, he was not-out and had set these benchmark scores in 1994 and 2004 respectively.

Cricket was not the only game Lara used to play, other sports he used to play were football and table tennis; the reason being very seasonal weather in the Caribbean. He said, "we used to play cricket in the dry season and football in the wet season."

The left-handed batsman also stated how his dad loved cricket and had an influence on him. Lara, during the interaction, said "he (Lara's dad) made sure that I play less of football and tennis and more of cricket"
"My dad made sure he gave me everything, he sacrificed what he had to, to make sure I had what I needed to perform at the best level," Lara said.